This week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 20/01

Welcome to Thursday 20 January’s edition of Fintech Times Bi-weekly news summary. Today there is news about a change of management at HyperJar and funding success for Tabby.

Partnership

Payment and remittance company Tempo France has partnered with Cyprus-based fintech company Armenotech. The agreement opens up cooperation in a wide range of business enterprises, everything from joint participation in international money transfer projects to innovative products in the payment market.

Haven Technologiesthe cloud-based quote-to-claim insurtech platform, collaborates with GraceKennedy Financial Group (GKFG) to offer the insurer’s Creditor Life products on its core insurance platform. Once Phase 1 work is complete, the partnership will focus on implementing GraceKennedy’s Creditor Life products in more countries and implementing new products.

BMCIthe Moroccan subsidiary of the French bank BNP Paribas, has merged with online marketplace Autochek Group Maroc. With this partnership, Moroccans can “access the financing they need” to buy used vehicles via the KIFAL Auto platform, and without having to enter a physical bank branch.

Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP) has entered into cooperation with the innovation platform, Plug and Playto encourage ambitious startups and entrepreneurs worldwide to join the seventh Elevator Pitch Competition 2023 (EPiC 2023), one of the biggest pitch events in Hong Kong. The last entry deadline for the competition has also been extended to 20 January 2023.

TPAYa payment company for the META region, has unveiled a strategic partnership with TOD, a MENA streaming platform. The partnership allows TOD customers to use their mobile numbers to pay for their sports and entertainment content.

More partnerships

Currencycloud has partnered with the British venture capital platform Vauban, to make the platform more accessible and allow global investors to launch and run their special purpose vehicles (SPVs) both easily and immediately. By integrating Currencycloud’s APIs into its platform, Vauban can deliver SPVs and funds in hours instead of weeks or months.

It is also a strategic partnership for Floyd and FreedomPay. Powered by FreedomPay, Flooid allows merchants to connect their retail channels, removing barriers between online and in-store payments. FreedomPay’s data-driven commerce platform gives merchants access to analytics and a business intelligence platform.

IMPT announces €50million 10-year deal to buy carbon credits from Thallo. Thallo will deliver credits to IMPT’s platform to connect retail brands with socially conscious consumers looking to reduce their carbon footprint. The deal with IMPT represents the first use of Thallo’s ‘bridge-as-a-service’ offering, which allows Web3 companies to integrate carbon credits directly into their own infrastructure.

Developer of AI solutions Axion has joined forces with fintech C8 technologies, a fintech company that has developed a global platform where customers have access to a marketplace of strategies and can trade underlying assets directly via their own broker. Following the partnership, a wide variety of Axyon AI’s model strategies are now available via C8 Studio.

coin cover, the digital asset protection technology company, has teamed up with Fire blocks, a platform for creating products on the blockchain and managing day-to-day crypto operations. The partnership provides Fireblocks customers with a secure key backup and disaster recovery option to ensure users have access to and control over their assets at all times.

Financing

Stockholm-based Anywaythe scale-up that enables consumers to refinance existing loans, has completed a €30 million Series C financing round. The capital will fuel the growth of the business in Europe, as well as helping Anyfin strengthen its product suite in existing European markets.

Tabby, the MENA shopping and financial services app has raised $58 million from Sequoia Capital India, STV and PayPal Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital, Arbor Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst in a Series C round that values ​​the company at $660 million. The fundraising will be used to expand Tabby’s product line into next-generation consumer financial services and support the company’s growing business. This round also makes Tabby the first in the GCC to receive funding from PayPal Ventures.

Company updates

Discover® Global Network, the payment mark to Discover®, has launched Tap and Pay solutions with transit agencies and local procurement partners, including EMT Madrid, Metro de Sevilla and GetNet in Spain, Mennica in Poland and New Taipei Metro in Taiwan. Riders can use their Discover, Diners Club International® and network alliance partner cards to make contactless payments at these transit agencies.

MANGOPAY, the platform-specific payment infrastructure provider, celebrates more than 35 percent growth in 2022. Total transaction value for 2022 was over €11.3 billion. It also revealed other achievements, including adding nearly one new customer per business day and adding 100 new employees.

WeLab Bank, a bank in Hong Kong, has launched a Tesla-dedicated loan with zero percent APR for select people Tesla owners and staff from selected organizations across Hong Kong. Eligible customers will also enjoy bonus offers including free supercharge. The offer is the latest collaboration between the bank and Tesla after announcing a strategic partnership in December last year.

Jumia, a provider of automated, end-to-end identity verification, risk assessment and eKYC solutions, has revealed a “record-breaking close to a successful 2022”. Jumio became the first identity company to clear more than $200 million in orders. Q4 also saw Jumio close both the largest new deal and the largest total deal in the company’s history.

HPS, a provider of payment solutions and services, has opened a new office in Singapore to support its continued growth in Asia. The group’s new office will enable HPS to welcome more than 80 colleagues in support of HPS’ continuous operations in the region.

Appointments

common fund, a B2B wealthtech platform for the fund industry, has appointed Tom Wooders as country manager in Great Britain. Before Allfunds, he was CEO of sales at Titan Wealth with responsibility for business development. Allfunds hailed Wooder’s ‘invaluable’ knowledge and contacts as they aim to improve their proposal.

That also includes new hires RSA insuranceas it plans technological transformation. Sally Ng is appointed specialty and commercial delivery director, while Katie Herman’s has been appointed head of technology risk management. Their agreements are in addition to those of Matt Lockie and Toby Harriswhich joined at the end of 2022. RSA has a five-year roadmap for transformation.

UAE-based open finance platform Fintech Galaxy hires Turki AlAhmed to manage its operations in Bahrain as country manager. Also joining the Fintech Galaxy is Sara Al Zeera as compliance and anti-money laundering officer. Fintech Galaxy recently secured licensing as a provider of account information services with Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).

Money 20/20the global fintech show, appoints Ken Gibbs as its new editor-in-chief. Gibbs has also previously worked at ViacomCBS, BET Networks, Aol Time Warner and Prime Video. Prior to this new role, Gibbs also served as global head of social media marketing at Spotify.

More job moves

BR-DGE, the payment organization provider, has revealed changes in senior management. Founder Brian Coburn is to lead product development in the CSO role, while the CFO Thomas Gillan becomes CEO to oversee BR-DGE’s next phase of growth. It has also employed Mark Whybrow to forge new relationships with actors across the retail trade. BR-DGE also plans to launch its network tokenization offering as a standalone product early this year.

BrokerTec, a provider of electronic trading platforms, has revealed three new hires, following strong growth in 2022. Jamie O’Hara joins as a director based in New York to support the broker-to-client site, BrokerTec Quote, in the US. Sammie Hodgson joins the team in London as a director in the repo business, while based in London Luke Negal joins as senior director, government bonds.

Dr Luke Carrivick appointed as managing director at ORX, the operational risk association. He has been a member of ORX’s management team since 2016, leading the research and information department before this new role as Deputy Managing Director.

Rob Rooney named HyperJarits new CEO three months after joining the board. He was previously at Morgan Stanley for 32 years. Founders Paul Rolls and Food Megen’s will enter new roles as architect, business and architect, consumer respectively. Scott Davies, board member of the money-saving platform since January 2019, becomes chairman of the board.

Acquisition

Abacus Groupa provider of hosted IT services and solutions to alternative investment firms, has acquired two boutique cybersecurity consulting firms, Gotham Security and its parent company, GoVanguard. Gotham Security, as the new business will be known, will be a subsidiary of Abacus Group but continue to operate independently.